diff --git a/src/wp-includes/class-wp-walker.php b/src/wp-includes/class-wp-walker.php
index df67921c2746c..7361520cbdccc 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/class-wp-walker.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/class-wp-walker.php
@@ -234,8 +234,7 @@ public function walk( $elements, $max_depth, ...$args ) {
 		 */
 		if ( empty( $top_level_elements ) ) {
 
-			$first = array_slice( $elements, 0, 1 );
-			$root  = $first[0];
+			$root = array_first( $elements );
 
 			$top_level_elements = array();
 			$children_elements  = array();
diff --git a/src/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-widget-types-controller.php b/src/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-widget-types-controller.php
index 4208ad2d922ba..1d07c27251c3b 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-widget-types-controller.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-widget-types-controller.php
@@ -504,7 +504,7 @@ public function encode_form_data( $request ) {
 			isset( $request['form_data'][ "widget-$id" ] ) &&
 			is_array( $request['form_data'][ "widget-$id" ] )
 		) {
-			$new_instance = array_values( $request['form_data'][ "widget-$id" ] )[0];
+			$new_instance = array_first( $request['form_data'][ "widget-$id" ] );
 			$old_instance = $instance;
 
 			$instance = $widget_object->update( $new_instance, $old_instance );